Roo's. Koala's, Sandboarding and Anty Abi

We managed to find our way out of Sydney easily and before we knew it we were heading along the Pacific Highway. As we were cruising along surprisingly quicklyl we decided to bypass Newcastle and spend our first night in Clyde at Port Stephens. We found the site we had been told about pretty easily (We need to stay at sites most nights as we have no loo or shower!!), got checked in and started to get Clyde sorted. As we were putting the duvet cover on Josie the sites kangaroo came hopping by, very surreal but very sweet. Once we had made the bed and figured out what went where (It’s pretty snug inside but luckily the worlds largest bag fit in the lockable box in the boot so it’s not too bad at all!) we went for a walk down to the beach. Through the gate, down the path and we were on an enormous empty golden sand beach - pretty sweet! The sand on the beach felt like snow and it squeaked under foot, I guess because it’s so clean, who knows, it was pretty cool though. After the sunset we headed back to Clyde stopping to admire a few cute koala’s in the trees on the way back; how much more Australian can you get roo’s and koala’s on day one - awesome! We used the very well equipped camp kitchen on our first night and after a big fat aussie steak we settled in for our first night in Clyde. I’d slept pretty well but woke up feeling something under my arm, I presumed it was an ant so I reached in to squish it and felt a pretty sharp pain in my finger; somehow a bloody massive ant had made it’s way in and had taken a nice chunk out of my finger. Tel tried to kill it about 4 times but it kept getting away, by this point my finger was about twice the size and very hot and red. Everything they tell you about Australia and it’s insects is enough to put anyone off and this obviously scared the bejesus out of me so Tel went and asked what it was if it was poisonous etc! Apparently it’s known locally as a meat eater but it’s called an inchman, nothing a anti-histamine and a bit of whining didn’t sort! I felt like a prize pillock but it taught us a good lesson early on; don’t make your bed while in a forest! Port Stephens is home to the biggest sand bar in the world, it runs 37 km from Port Stephens to Newcastle, so Tel couldn’t resist going out and having a go at sand boarding down the enormous dunes. He came back pretty knackered but said it was wicked! From here we decided to get a shift on and bypass a few of the smaller places and make a push to Byron bay. En route we passed through a town called Kempsey, obviously we had to stop and take a picture, we drove past Kemps Road but it was way too busy a road to stop and take a picture! I had studied the map and found us a free campsite to stay at for the night so we arrived in Coffs harbour only to find out the site was shut - damn! So, on our second night in Clyde we ended up in a Formula 1 motel for the night, it was slightly gutting but we had driven about 400km and didn’t want to drive through the night. The motel wasn’t that bad except they all have these weird swimming pools in the car park; I’ve seen roasting trays bigger than most of them!! It was a very uneventful night in Coffs Harbour, the highlight was the ex-serviceman’s club who had hale and pace on in a few days time - shame we couldn’t hang about!!! We were on the road pretty early and made our way to Broken Head which is the bay just before Byron. I don’t mind camping at festivals etc but I have always turned my nose up at camping generally, but, the Australians sure know how to camp. We pulled up at this lovely little site to find wireless internet, massive bbq’s, spotless toilets and showers and a laundry - camping is pretty cool after all!!! The beach was a thirty second walk away and was pretty much deserted and spotless, again the sand was squeaky and as we were sat having a beer watching the sun go down a pelican flew in and we were lucky enough to sit watching it for about an hour, they are pretty enormous close up!!! Clyde runs on a dual battery so the battery that runs the fridge, dvd player and lights charges while you are driving, if you have everything on you have about 4 hours of running time so we have learned pretty quickly not to use the lights otherwise you can’t watch a film. We were going to get a juicy or wicked van at first but what made us choose a spaceship is that you can either sleep inside the van which is ok but limits your space somewhat and is very claustrophobic or there is an awning which attaches to the boot and gives you about a third more room, and the biggest bonus of all, you can look up at the thousands of stars through the back window; now that’s worth driving about in a bright orange bus!! I think I might want a Clyde when I get home!!!! So with Clyde in night mode we got out the little camping stoves they supplied us (just like the ones dad bought us all!) and made a lovely meal under the stars. We spent a few nights at the same site and spent our days visiting Byron which wasn’t all that, Nimbin, the hippy capital of Australia which is what I imagine Haight Ashbury was like in it’s day and a few other lovely beaches in the area. The weather had warmed up a bit but most of the water was for surfing and a bit too chilly for a dip so after three night there we made our way to a campsite about 60kms away we had been told about. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the site so we ended up driving from Byron to just before Brisbane, a pretty long way! The only place we could find to stop at was a Big4 camp which was vile, you are virtually parked on top of each other and you are fenced in the complex even though there is a beach the other side! We had a very early night and were out of there by 8! We decided as we had a fair way to go and time disappearing very rapidly to bypass Brisbane and Surfers Paradise and head straight to Hervey Bay the Whale watching capital of the world!

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